Crime and the Law

Hola Legal eagles,
thought I would set up a blog for your reading and introductory information. Firstly as I have already referred you towards the State Library has a couple of links that are especially set up for your research. I have made links to the Legal Information Information Centre and Lawlink in the legal links to the right of this post.
In addition if you are interested- the main underlying Act of NSW Parliament is the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) which is constantly being updated. Interestingly the definition of murder (see section 18) as defined in NSW does not have to always involved intention, it can involve 'reckless indifference to life'. See if you can explain the difference between deliberate intent and reckless indifference?
The last three weeks in the SMH there has been a series of interviews and feature articles on the legal system. As it is this has meant a concentration on the criminal justice system as that impacts upon all of us. Today the Director of Public Prosecutions whose job it is to prosecute for the crown (society) , the office also appeals cases where the verdict is not in the interests of society. Today the Director Nicholas Cowdrey suggested that certain rights of the accused should be modified e.g the right to silence and the inability to inform the jury that the person has been previously convicted. What do you think about either of these issues?

Au$$ie Dollar impacts and thoughts

For the first time since the Australian dollar floated in 1983 the $A has hit parity- that is it was 1 to 1 with the US $ even if it was for a relative short time. As I write this the $A buys 98.77 cents and as is the nature of our currency the volatility has meant that it will continue to fluctuate.
An interesting point for the impacts of the high dollar which has been hovering in the 99 cent bracket is the whilst the theory states that an appreciation is negative for growth and future growth (see page 132 of Dixon to update yourself) the reality is whilst the economy is booming then the appreciation will actually be good as it will mean the excessive growth will be slowed (or smoothed out) and thus there is less need for macroeconomic policy action.
For a good summary of the Aussie dollar see 'Why our econocrats reckon the high dollar is a good thing'

Before I leave you should check out the latest figures that are available.

Garnaut Review- Australia and climate change

Australia in recent years has failed to implement the reform needed to place the economy in a position to deal with the most significant issue of our time. Previous PM Rudd called climate change "the greatest moral challenge of our generation".
Why has there been no action in 2010 despite the groundswell moving since 2007? Well a number of reasons- firstly instead of leading the debate and explaining the importance of the issue Rudd decided to sit back and let the opposition party fight amongst itself. Whilst Turnbull was the leader the government had the numbers to pass the ETS (emission trading scheme) through Parliament. Once Abbott became the new leader the Liberals the window to pass the ETS was lost and soon after Rudd himself lost the faith of his party. For a more detailed look at how that happened take a look at 'For tough reforms, Rudd must crash through or crash'.

If you look at the 2010 election results the largest move was the increase by 4% of people voting for the Greens. It could be said that a large amount of people want climate change action and are frustrated with the lack of action till now.
So where is the evidence that action should take place. In 2008 the Rudd government received the Garnaut Review. The Review concluded 'There are times in the history of humanity when fateful decisions are made. On a balance of probabilities, the failure of our generation would lead to consequences that would haunt humanity until the end of time.'

When looking at the Garnaut Review there are a number of aspects to shorten your reading. The synopsis of key points (see the buttons on the left) is a reasonable summary. To view the stats I showed in class see Chapter 7 (Figures 7.1, 7.6,7.8) and Chapter 11 (Figures 11.4 and 11.6)
The overall conclusion by Garnaut is that Australia whose CO2 emissions are approximately 455 ppm now should take action regardless of international concensus to cap emissions at 550 ppm. If this does not happen the long term costs of not taking action are actually greater than if Australia does attempt to reduce emissions.

If you are interested in the impacts from a global perspective check out my previous blogs on the Stern report from September 2009.

Legal contemporary cases

Bring on the CLM. If you read some of the sample answers of top students apart from using solid legal terminology and having a well structured answer the key is integration of recent cases, legislation and media reports.
For example a story has come out in the last couple of days regarding Australia's most famous murder trial - The Azaria Chamberlain case from 1980 well it has resurfaced in the news and in many ways it brings the jury system under question as it sounds as if some of the jury were attempting to find reasons to convict her rather than find a reasonable doubt that she was innocent. Enough of that. The back story is long and complicated so unless you are super keen I would recommend you stay with cases you have already heard about at this stage.

I do however want to raise your attention to two connected issues.

The first is the issue of self regulation and the case study re the legal industry. There was recently an article from the 6th of August that stated ' while the reform process may cut regulatory costs for lawyers and increase protection for consumers, it has led to a pitched battle over who will control ... and set standards for lawyers'.
This is important as what it means is that the only reason why reform has been delayed is internal politics within the profession and consumers are not receiving the best protection for this reason!

The second publication is a report on the Bail Act from 2002 by the Judicial Commission of NSW.
"the NSW Bail Act is currently in gross violation of international law, breaching certain sections of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Australia is a signatory. Basically, it violates the presumption of innocence and breaches the principle that refusal of bail should be the exception. It is argued that categorically denying people bail equates with substantial pre-trial punishment. It is an injustice that affronts human dignity, offends fundamental principles of law and is all too often fatal in its consequences."

Since this report the Bail Act has actually become even more restrictive as the NSW State government aims to be seen as tough on crime- again for poltical reasons.

Good luck with your exams.

Where is the leadership?

As Australia slides into a rather boring election campaign (thus far) it is worthwhile to note that there is a difference between the two main parties. One outcome that seems certain is the increased importance of the Greens and the animated version of Bob Brown which is worth witnessing after many years of droll, monotone.
I know you want to keep it connected to the main game or the game that you are concerned with at present so here are some articles to read.
The first is the thoughts of business- which interestingly are favouring the ALP at present due to the fact they will lower company tax and be introducing a super broadband. see Fate of business.
Another interesting read is the thoughts of Jospeh Stiglitz who had the following to say on the 730 report. You can watch the intereview with this Nobel economist on the global economy and Australia's performance.

KERRY O'BRIEN: There's been a lot of criticism of waste in the way some of Australia's stimulus money was spent. Is it inevitable if you're going to spend a great deal of government money quickly that there will be some waste and can you ever justify wasting taxpayers' money?

JOSEPH STIGLITZ: If you hadn't spent the money, there would have been waste. The waste would have been the fact that the economy would have been weak, there would have been a gap between what the economy could have produced and what it actually produced - that's waste. You would have had high unemployment, you would have had capital assets not fully utilised - that's waste.

Who wants order?

If you an anarchist then you would believe that order is another way of controlling people. That is nation states promote authority which serves to make people subservient. Therefore order is not desireable.
Alternatively you may want to merely have some assistance for your assessment task. A connection took place in alternative universe this afternoon. I was considering giving some assistance to students who read my blog and there was a request at the same time????

So here is some research direction.
1) Look at the new link HSC News Watch to the right in Law Links
2) try http://english.aljazeera.net/. If you scroll down to Focus, features, analysis and comment. There is some very good information here and a friend of mine who is studying a Masters of International Studies states that this is his best source of information.
3) SBS news - not soccer bloody soccer as some say. In fact what is soccer?
4) The Guardian - which is a UK paper with an independent viewpoint.


As I have been saying in class if you are more a visual person then watch the SBS or ABC news and then when you hear a issue you are interested in then search for a related article.
However I do believe that going to the above websites is an easier option.

Merits for comments or discussion on what libertarianism means.

Who likes pink ladies??

In a recent development with ripe opportunities for rotten puns it appears the WTO are about to overturn a ban on NZ apples into Australia. At present NZ apples are banned from Australia due to the presence of fire blight which is a contagious bacterium that can destroy an orchard and leave it looking burnt.
At present NZ exports apples to 65 nations although it is currently banned from Australia due to customs regulations. For NZ growers it could increase exports between $15-20 million per year.
Check out the link above for more info.

The ban has existed since 1919 and of course local Australian growers are not saying she'll be apples. Are customs regulations necessary or is it a form of protection?

Empire building and destruction

The pages of history are a great place for people who like to place their own twist on events or revise what actually happened.
So the elevation of the first Afro American to the White House will obviously be an event that many remember as pivotal in the history of the United States of America. (check out the recent Foreign Correspondent for those who think I am on my own when I am particular about what America means.)
I digress, will Barack Obama be remembered for the beginning of the end of the empire that currently is the U.S.?
For those of you who play sport or any other competitive pursuit, there is nothing more satisfying than beating the top team and if you are the top team you find that others always elevate their efforts against you. It is only a matter of time before the number 1. falls and others rejoice. So when you are the number 1 world power (U.S) and you have been that way since 1945 then it is reasonable period of time to consider when the end is nigh.
In the article 'An empire in decline as the world turn upside down' Peter Hartcher considers the amount of debt held by the Unite States and how it is becoming an issue. Commentators and the opposition in Australia bemoan the $50 billion Budget deficit Australia has- well consider $1.4 trillion with current interest repayments of public debt at 8% and heading towards 17%.
Obama may be the President that was in power when the Global Financial Crisis of 2008 happened however he does not deserve to be blamed. According to Alan Greenspan (the previous head of the Federal Reserve (US Central Bank) he just did not believe that businesses would operate in a non-rational fashion. That is why did they lend to people when there was a high risk that there would loan defaults? Greenspan believed that the profit motive would prevent this stupidity, well he was wrong and so whilst socialism collasped so to is uncontrolled capitalism now under pressure.
We shall have to wait and see the end result. What is your view? I can see a merit for anyone who makes a comment.

Legal Studies Info

Are Criminal Trials efficient?
In December last year the NSW Attorney General commissioned a special team to evaluate the current criminal trial process. The special group looked at the possible increasing of juries to 15 (then choosing a random 12 to make the verdict), the way juries are chosen, whether juries comprehend their task, the presentation of evidence and the conduct of legal counsel. There is some interesting information which is highly relevant for your course.
For more reading go to HSC Legal Studies media watch page from the State Library.

Alternatively you go to the link on my blog for the LIAC and look at all the links set up for the HSC course. Another good part of this is the Crime Library which is a download which goes through a number of important cases. It is not even recommended that you attempt to remember a number of these cases however you may be looking for important recent cases and here is where you find them.

Lastly the NSW law Reform Commission is a good place to look at recent law changes and the even the upcoming investigations that have been looked at. The one that I looked up recently was on complicity. This involves whether a principal in the second degree is guilty of murder (they did not actually commit the act) if an understanding that a crime will be committed has been agreed upon. Whilst a considerable amount of this is in legal language you can easily see the issues which are being discussed.

Welcome Year 12 Eco Class

Fellow economists, here is a copy of a blog I posted last year (Thursday, March 19, 2009). It is highly relevant to what we have been studying and the hyperlinks lead to an interview on the ABC.

Is Foreign Aid good for Africa?

On the 17th of March, Foreign Correspondent (yes on the ABC) had an interview with Dambisa Moyo a Zambian-born economist. This is some of the information from the ABC web site.

"In her new book, Dead Aid, she argues that official aid is easy money that fosters corruption and distorts economies, creating a culture of dependency and economic laziness.
Moyo is particularly dismissive of the ‘celebrity aid’ model popularised by international stars such as Bob Geldof and Bono and says many aid organisations and NGOs are more interested in perpetuating poverty in order to justify their own existence."

Interesting thoughts indeed. Moyo is a believer in trade and the power of the market as opposed to the aid model in which she claims the only growth occurring is in the Swiss banks accounts of the political elite.
Lastly she claims that 10 percent of Africans were living in poverty in the 1970s compared to 70 percent now.
What do you think? It would be good to hear some comments via the blog.... (PS this is not a new concept it is new for an African economist to be suggesting it though)